North Carolina Here We Come!

Agenda: Sat-Kohls, drive to "in-laws", pick up diploma (which was being framed), play with Caroline, sleep, Sun-head to Mike's, pack up the trucks, jump on the highway and head south.

So yeah, it's vacation time! As we've done the last two years, we're going to the Outer Banks, NC. There's currently a high surf advisory (thanks Hurricane Bill!) but it should be over by tomorrow night. Here's hoping for lots of sun, beer, and shenanigans. (and no trips to the E.R.)

Depressed

This may get way to personal and be deleted tomorrow when I actually realize that...but I'm feeling blah.

My dysfunctional family is wearing me down. Somehow, from miles away they still get to me. Mainly, life is wearing my mom down and said dysfunctional family is so dysfunctional that she has no support. She pretty much has me, who's across the country, and her best friend, who has a baby and is in grad school. Which doesn't leave a whole lot of love for the mom. And it's just really depressing. Because there's really nothing I can do.

There was a fire at home recently. Everyone was fine, even the dog, but the stove was ruined. It was engulfed in flames one morning. It wasn't even on, it just went wild. The firemen threw it on the back patio, actually. Aside from the microwave, though, nothing else was damaged. It was lucky that the house wasn't at all burnt. But the house was a mess. Mom's health was wonky due to smoke. Smoke also filled the entire house, so the air ducts had to be cleaned. And there was toxic ash got blown like everywhere since the AC had been on, so my family couldn't live there for a week and a half until it was appropriately cleaned.

And none of my family have been there to help.

Some have their opinions, though. Like, they criticize mom since she hasn't bought a new stove yet. I don't know, I wouldn't be buying a new stove is my kitchen was still covered in ash.

Due to their own problems, of course. All of which I am somehow in the middle of, even when I try not to be.

I just got this in an email:
"You have always been opinionated, and while I commend most of them, you have become quite bitter and judgemental toward many things and perhaps being so far away allows you to keep that emotional distance from us all."

Which may be partially true. I am insanely opinionated and I don't think a lot of my family realized this until the last few years, when I grew up and left home, and finally wasn't scared of their approval. So sometimes, when I speak out, I think they're still surprised. I think I probably am bitter to some extent, but to say I have an emotional distance is ridiculous, since all of this drama eats me up constantly. Eh, way to complicated to dissect these remarks.

I forgot

Yesterday I forgot a few things that were annoying me... and still are.

Healthcare reform. Mainly those opposed to it. I decided today that "Republicans should listen to NPR instead of Fox news. The world would be a happier place." I can't begin to say how annoyed I am with this entire situation. I finally figured out my superhero power though, I would like to have the power to kick people out of the country.

NPR's odd necessity to tell me the weather forecast every 10 minutes. In my 1 hour commute I get a weather updates. Totally not necessary.

There was something else but I forgot it again. In new annoyances:

I wrote my aunt an email. My aunt did something like "Mom, Melissa was mean to me." So my grandmother wrote me and email that basically said "Please don't talk to your aunt until you get facts from me first." My aunt pissed me off, I told her she pissed me off. Really not sure why I have to run that past my grandma first. My family is ridiculously childish.

Clients going on vacation. 3 files I was scheduled to receive next week and could have gotten done before I left on vacation are now coming the next week. Well the next week I will be gone and the files will therefore have to be late...the question is how late, since I will have other work ready for me when I get back.

I would really like it if my two best friends were in the country right now. A non-bloggable issue has come up and I need to talk! But one's in Israel and one's in Japan. Why?!

Annoyed

I was really annoyed earlier. I feel better now, after my work out, but still.

Grr to people bitching and being sneaky and annoying (long story)
to it being hot
to fruit flies
to pages that are 400 words too long
to Word 2007 and its non-compatible files
to people putting things in 4 docs instead of 1
to those nagging thoughts about wedding dresses
to back pain

I think I let it all get to me at once.

Anyways, I finished Julie and Julia last night. Although I'm not a foodie, I did enjoy this book. It's pretty cute and I could actually picture me and John if I tried such a project. ha! Anyway, there's a lot in it about food, obviously, and sometimes I was kind of "yawn" about that, I'll admit. But the concept of the Project as well as getting into the lives of these characters was fun and entertaining.

I'm still thinking I should wait to see the movie though. I imagine both will be their own thing, but I can't just jump right from one to another.

I've had a hard time figuring out what to read next. I have a pile of books (yay gift cards!) but I keep going "oh, save that for vacation." Not that I'll ever get through the now large vacation pile in one week, but still, I keep doing it. I think I'm going to read Firefly Lane.

In other book news, I discovered something I would probably find interesting, Offbeat Bride. (Don't get any ideas, there are no plans for a wedding around here.) I figure I won't probably be a bride, but if I were, I'm sure things would not be ordinary. And I like when others don't follow the norm either, so this would probably at least entertain me, if not give me unnecessary ideas for my fictional dream wedding.

In other news, John was 5 years old the other day with a new Nerf dart gun. He shot me with it and I was not pleased. It now resides at work, where John and his boss (who has his own gun) somehow get work done whist fighting a Nerf war.

Tomato Basil Soup

What else do you do when your basil plants have grown at exuberant rates but keep on cooking?

Tomatoes simmering on the stove.


Basil ready to go in.


Mmm soup.

Nothing to say

I haven't posted in days because I haven't had anything to say. This is odd to me. So I'm just going to throw a few things out there.

We have our first little peppers finally. They're about the size of my fingernail, but they actually are peppers and not just buds anymore.

I have to do some rearranging in the garden which includes getting rid of some pepper plants, probably going to the in laws (unless you want one!). John made me plant carrots and zucchini and now it's just crowded down there. We still have a strawberry plant in a pot! It's getting wild back there.

I'm currently editing a college text called "Marriage and Family." This sometimes makes me laugh because, well you know how I feel about marriage. But really, I really enjoy this project. Today I got to write a short fictional piece about "hooking up" since the writer didn't include it as she was told.

This particular chapter also talked about When Harry Met Sally and the whole "can men and women be friends" debate. This always spurs interesting conversation. Of course, I think it's totally possible. But it did make me think about an old friend, where sexual attraction did get in the way. So it really depends on the people, I guess.

I made red pepper pesto with the basil from the garden and it was spectacular, especially on roasted red pepper triscuits.

I have been slacking on reading lately, but finally finished "The River Wife." This took place in Missouri, along the Mississippi, so I thought it'd be interesting. But it was really hard to get into. A lot of fun plot stuff happened, but something was off with it. That's probably why it took me so long to finish.

Now I'm reading Julie and Julia. Awhile back I wanted to see the movie since I adore Meryl Streep. Now, I may wait until DVD, just to check it out. The book is actually pretty good so far, but I'm not sure I'll be ready for the movie when I'm finished. I think it'll take away the greatness of the book. They should be separate.

I guess that's why John and I haven't been to the movies much. The two I wanted to see: Harry Potter and My Sister's Keeper, are both books, and I just haven't been motivated to go to this other media yet.

Yes, see, nothing going on in my life...

Crabs!

Yesterday we went over to Kathy and Saureen's for a crab feast!

We got their early since they needed a truck for the table and chairs they retned. That turned into an ordeal, complete with people who were creepy and unhelpful. The boys will never be the same.

As you can see, we love us some crabs!

Saureen and Sameet seasoning the crabs.


Steaming away. "How do you know they're ready?" "When they turn red, you eat."


PJ was not pleased with Victor pounding the heck out of the crab.


Some crabs decided to retain their water.


Craving crabs!

Garden Construction

So you would have thought that after our strenuous hiking on Saturday we would be exhausted on Sunday. But, since we didn't get our Sun morning hike in, as we expected, we had some built-up energy. So when we got home, John suggested we continue work in the yard... aka garden construction. So, we headed to home depot and got to work.

Another trip to home depot and who knows how many hours later, we had a garden. We had 8 foot pieces of wood, so there was some cutting involved (hurray for fancy sawing devices handled by the man because sometimes I do act like a girl). We also had some hard work with the screws that hold all the wood together (boo for not having the right parts to the drill).

We were both sore (from hiking and construction together) by the end of the night, but it was worth it. Too bad it's so late in the season and I can't plant everything I want to plant.

Garden pre-planting.


Pepper plants in their new home


Mutant cilantro...seriously, it's about three times the size it was 10 days ago.


Strawberries, finally with baby fruit. Here's hoping nothing eats them before we do.


My first lily.

Camping at Cunningham Falls

This weekend John and I went camping at Cunningham Falls State Park. This place is only about an hour and a half for us, so it's super convenient (though it took us about 2 hours to get there since we hit some rush hour traffic).

We left Friday and got there around 6:30. We promptly set up our tent since we were expecting rain. We actually had time to gather some wood and have a small fire before we decided to call it an early night. And it didn't start raining until after we had gone to bed. Good timing on our part. As we lay in bed listening to the rain, we contemplated whether there was enough room in this tiny tent for a dog. It was determined on Saturday night, when we somehow scooted ourselves all the way to the edge of the tent, that there is indeed room for a dog.

It ended up being freezing that night, despite it being July. So we had to use our padding as blankets, making the night rough. But it was survivable.



Saturday we were up at the crack of dawn. We ate some yogurt and cliff bars and headed to the trail. First we walked down to the lake. It was so early that no one was there. Except the "water ninjas" who were actually military, we believe, but sounded like ninjas at first. Anyways, they were doing their exercises in the lake. So funny.



We wandered around down there for awhile, since it wasn't crowded yet. We went off the regular trail and just followed the edge of the lake for awhile. We found some fishing line, but no fish. We also found some odd berries, which we did not eat.



We then went back to our original trail, but went the other way towards the falls. This was supposedly the easy route, but there were some steep parts. The falls weren't too impressive, probably because it's been so dry, but it was still nice. we climbed around on the rocks some and just relaxed before heading back up the mountain. A lot of steep areas! We figure the campsite to the lake, to the falls, and back to the campsite was about 2 miles, but it wasn't all marked so we weren't sure.





When we got back to the campsite it was only 10:30, but we went ahead and ate lunch! It was a strenuous morning and we were starving. So we had sandwiches, potato salad, and chips and lots of Eating Right water. Then we took a lovely nap.

After our nap, we took the trail back to the lake, thinking there was another trail down there. There wasn't. We wandered around the other side of the lake and didn't find anything, so we headed back up the mountain. Since we were not going to the falls, we went the same way we came, which was steeper so by the time we were finished, we were tired. But my legs and butt are in great shape now!

We took another nap (yay naps!) and then took a stroll to explore the other campgrounds. Then we started gathering wood for the evening. We had a nice big pile, which was good because we had a fire going for a good number of hours.



We cooked our chicken over the grill and had dinner. Then there were smores, plain toasted marshmallows, and John even melted some chocolate and made chocolate covered strawberries (my favorite!).

We stayed up later that night (probably because of all the naps) but still not too late. But we had a large pile of ash by the night's end. Hey, it was really cold, I had to stay warm.

We got up this morning and packed up. We wanted to find another trail and do that before leaving, but the park was uncooperative. Apparently they only tell you were the falls/lake trails are. All the rest you have to buy a trail guide for. We could have found some ourselves but it was a pain, and some trails were across the highway at another park, so we gave up and just came home.

But, the weather was cool, the food was great, hikes were tiresome but we both loved it, we had nice campfires and some good quiet time. Just don't ask John to comment on our neighbors and their annoying kids :)

He listens!

You know, you always hear sob stories about men and their inability to listen. And, yes, John has had is moments. But, I also know that most of the time he does listen, and does what he can if a response is needed.

So I have my little "garden" going on on the back deck. And I've been saying for probably the last month that I really need to move some of these plants out of the pots and into a real garden. I started everything from seeds or bulbs, in pots since they were so very fragile for awhile, but they are getting too big for their little homes. I moved the lilies to the front garden a few weeks ago, but there was no where to put any non-flower plant. It would be kind of weird to be growing bell peppers in the front yard.

Problem is our backyard is a disaster. I think only 10% is grass right now. There's moss and weeds and a big pile of cedar chips that was once the mulch out front. There was even a tree growing in our fence. So yeah, wild. There were also two very large rubbermaid containers that the previous owner set up. And those were in the sunniest part of the yard, where any garden should be.

So bottom line, I needed John to help me out a bit with making the yard garden ready. I can do quite a lot, but it would have taken me a really long time on my own.

I started working on the moss problem on Friday-tore a bit up and began an experiment with some grass seed (it's supposed to grow in the shade, which is good since half the yard is shady since it's under the deck. perfect spot for moss, obviously). Anyway, I didn't get very far on Friday, mostly because I was wanting to experiment with whether the seed would work before going all crazy with grass.

So today my wonderful boyfriend got motivated to build me a garden. I helped, of course. And actually, we didn't build a garden, but we are on our way. We had some major work to do with the rubbermaid containers. One was full of dirt, who knows why, and had become an ant farm. It was disturbing. The other was full of cobwebs. So we cleaned those out and moved them to a different part of the yard. We also got rid of all the mulch and weeds. And we did the general planning for where the garden will be, raised bed versus ground level, what to do about rabbits, what else we want to plant, etc. So yeah, I have this very nice open area ready for construction!

John also killed a snake for me, so I was not eaten.

PS: right after complaining about my plants not being edible, I discover not one but 4 blossoms on my strawberry plants. So I will hopefully get at least something from them!